Palazzo Ducale | Galleria degli Specchi

The Galleria degli Specchi is located in the oldest part of the Palazzo Ducale called Corte Vecchia. Originally the room was built in the form of a loggia, opening onto the courtyard of honor, but by 1611 it was closed and housed the most important paintings from the Gonzaga collection.
The gallery had the largest pictorial decoration ever executed in the palace, dating back to around 1618 and inspired by the celebration of the sciences and arts, with allegorical figures taken from the Iconology of Cesare Ripa. Parnassus was painted in the two large lunettes at the ends, where portraits of poets appear together with Apollo and the Muses (at least Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Ariosto and Tasso appear) and the Allegory of the Liberal Arts.
On the lunettes on the long internal wall and in the two extreme parts of the vault, one after the other, there are images of the Virtues. In 1779 the walls were renovated with gilded stucco and mirrors as it still is today.